PURPOSE

The competition aims to promote creative thinking, analytical writing and debate on issues in Australian public administration.

TOPIC AND ELIGIBILITY

Any topic within the field of public administration will be acceptable and any person is eligible to enter.

Practitioners are especially encouraged to enter.

PRIZES

A first prize of $1000 and the Sir George Murray Award will be presented at an event in December 2006.

The cost of attending the event is also part of the award.  

A second prize of $500 may also be awarded by the Institute.

PUBLICATION OF PAPER

The winning entry will be published in the Australian Journal of Public Administration.

JUDGES

Entries are judged by a panel drawn from senior public administrators and academics Australia-wide.

The panel's decision upon the award and distribution of prizes is final.
No correspondence will be entered into regarding the judges' decisions.

CONTENT

Essays of 3,000 to 10,000 words may be submitted.  The work must be original, unpublished and not part of a larger work. It should be based on the author’s personal research or investigation, and not merely reproduce or summarise other material.

Particular value is placed on creative thinking, analytical writing and contribution to debate on issues affecting public administration in Australia.

Judges will be looking for writing skill and clear expression of ideas, together with presentation of a structured argument.

Critical treatment of historical aspects of public administration is acceptable if the aim is to identify trends or to explore problems and solutions, rather than to simply recount events.  Case studies and explorations of how international trends impact on Australian Government and administration are also acceptable.

SUBMISSIONS

Essays must be identified only by nom-de-plume and not by entrant's name.

They should be accompanied by a sealed envelope containing the entrant's name and address.  The outside of the envelope must bear the nom-de-plume only.

Essays should be submitted in quadruplicate and be typed double-spaced on one side of the paper only.

Authorities and sources used should be precisely identified in footnotes or notes at the end of the text.

Address for forwarding submissions:

Sir George Murray Award
IPAA SA Division Inc
GPO Box 13
Adelaide SA 5001